


KotOR - Vigil

by rprambles



Category: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 17:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2317781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rprambles/pseuds/rprambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carth's fellow survivor of the Endar Spire is not what he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	KotOR - Vigil

Carth winced as their landing flung him forward, the safety belts digging into his shoulders and chest for a moment before he fell back against the seat. He half-expected to be thrown forward again, but it seemed the pod had come to a halt. He quickly shed the belts and moved towards the hatch, lightly patting his fellow passenger on the knee. “C’mon. We gotta move.”

The hatch cycled open to a picturesque view of Taris’s nighttime horizon. Carth didn’t stop to admire it, looking around the street for civilians or Sith. “Look’s clear,” he said with a glance over his shoulder. And then he paused and turned around. The soldier hadn’t moved from her seat, and he now noticed that she was slumped forward against the belts.

Crap.

He gently lifted her head up; her eyes were closed, and when he pressed two fingers to her neck he found a steady pulse. Simply unconscious then. The crash must’ve bounced her around and knocked her against the wall, there was a thin weeping cut near the back of her head.

He undid the buckles and picked her up, careful not to jostle her in case there were other injuries. The street was thankfully still empty when he stepped out of the pod and he made for the nearest building, an apartment complex by the looks of it. He thought he heard a clattering sound as they reached the doors and he bolted inside the second they opened wide enough.

It was far from a fancy place. Wear showed in places and he passed a few ramshackle lean-tos. No one would notice two more squatters. Carth ducked into the first empty apartment, letting himself breathe only when the door closed behind him. Safe for now. After a moment he looked at the woman in his arms, unsurprised to see she was still out cold. He set her down on the nearest bunk and patched the cut on her head. Finding no other injuries, Carth put away his medkit and let out a sigh.

The Endar Spire was gone. He wasn’t sure how many escape pods had been launched, how many soldiers had been in them and survived their landings. Not enough, certainly. Add to that he had no idea where Bastila was or if she was even alive. And with Sith in charge of the planet, nothing would be simple.

He put that train of thought on halt and went to the other bunk. Sitting here and despairing over everything wasn’t going to help. In the morning he could scout around for information. After everything that had happened that day, he felt a surge of gratitude when sleep came easily.

An odd rustling noise woke him up, and it took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t in his bunk on the Spire. He blinked groggily at the first rays of dawn peeking through the window. Right. Taris. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, he looked for the source of the noise.

In the other bunk the woman tossed and turned in her sleep, muttering something he couldn’t quite hear. A nightmare, he surmised, a bad one. Carth went to her bedside, reaching out to grasp her foot and give it a shake. “Hey. Wake up.”

No sooner did his hand touch her ankle than her other foot came up and kicked him hard in the chest. “Ow! Hey!” She didn’t wake, her brow knotting as the nightmare grew worse. Carth sat beside her and gently stroked her hair, trying to soothe her. “Hey, take it easy. Calm down, it’s alright.”

After a while her tossing slowly lessened and she was still again. He waited a moment to see if she’d wake up, but she slept on. He sighed and, rubbing the sore spot on his chest, decided that her boots had to go. Just in case.

After removing her boots – and socks, as it seemed odd to leave them there, he checked the kitchen. As expected: empty. Carth looked back at her with a frown. He couldn’t just leave her there, but without food neither of them would last long. If he only left for a short while, it should be alright.

He left reluctantly, going only two buildings down to the small market. The place buzzed with gossip; he didn’t have to ask anyone to learn what he wanted to know. Other escape pods had landed on the lower levels of the city. Hopefully Bastila was in one of them and hadn’t been found by the Sith.

Back at the apartment, the woman was still out. Setting down his supplies, he set up a saline IV first thing, then checked her injury. The swelling had gone down, no infection in the cut. He changed the ice pack, then set to making himself breakfast.

He wondered when she would wake up and how long he could safely wait before taking her to a medical center. If they weren’t on a hostile planet, he would have done that immediately. But they were, and without knowing the safe places for Republic soldiers, he didn’t want to risk it.

A rustling noise pulled him out of his thoughts. She was shifting again, worse than the last time. He hurried over, worried she’d tear the IV out. He pressed her shoulders down gently to keep her still. “Hey, easy-”

Her eyes jerked open, steel blue eyes staring right through him. He could see fear plainly in her gaze. “Take it easy,” he said softly, stroking her hair. “You’re safe.”

She blinked. Slowly the fear melted away and her eyes slid shut. Within seconds she was unconscious again.

Two days, Carth decided, gut knotted with worry. He’d wait two more days.

Those two days passed slowly. He took up sitting by her bedside, occasionally nodding off in the chair. She woke up a few more times, never quite seeing him. It only worried him more. Finally he got ready to take her to a medcenter. He knew where one was now, not too far away, and he could take back alleys to lessen the chance of being seen by the Sith.

He’d finished double-checking his map when she started shifting again, brow furrowed in that increasingly familiar sign of another nightmare. He left his plans on the table and went to her, setting a hand on her shoulder.

She jolted up, her head cracking soundly against his. Carth staggered backward with a sharp cry, clutching a hand to his head, as the woman fell back against the bed, her language absolutely unprintable

“You have a foul mouth,” he muttered, more to himself than anything.

“And you have a hard head,” she spat back at him. “Sithspit, that hurt!”

Well, at least she’s awake.

She started to sit up, wincing and feeling at the lump on her head. “The hell am I?”

“Taris,” he answered, still rubbing at his head. “We crashed nearby, you were knocked unconscious. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt, I carried you from the crash site and found this place.” He couldn’t help staring when she yanked the IV out. “You know, that’s bad for you.”

“Whatever.” She swung her legs around and frowned at her bare feet. “Who took my boots off?”

“I did. You kicked me.”

A grin spread across her face. “Sorry,” She looked up at him and tilted her head. “You’re…?”

“Carth Onasi.”

“Jay Robyn. Got any coffee?”

“Yeah.” He fetched a mug and filled it quickly. “Hope you like it black.”

She stood, wobbling slightly. “Only way I drink it.” Draining the mug in one go, she handed it back to him and set to putting her boots on. “How long was I out?”

“Couple days, you were slipping in and out of consciousness. Must’ve been having one hell of a nightmare. How do you feel?”

Jay shrugged. “Not too bad. Hungry. Memory’s a bit fuzzy around the edges, but that should pass.”

“Good.” He picked up his plans from the table, scratching out the one to take her to the medcenter. “Taris is under a planet-wide quarantine, courtesy of the Sith Fleet. There’s no way the Republc can get us out of here, so we’ll have to rescue Bastila and get out of here ourselves.

She blinked at him. “Who?”

Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take her to the medcenter anyway, just in case. “That smack to your head did more damage than I thought. Bastila’s a Jedi.”

“Ah.” Jay stood up and headed for the door. “Have fun with that.”

“What? Hey!” Carth darted after her, standing in her way. “Where are you going?”

“First I’m going to punch someone. Then I’m headed off planet.”

“Did you not hear me? There is no way to get off planet. Even if you found a ship, the blockade would blow you out of the sky.”

“So I’ll steal a Sith ship.”

Carth stared at her for a long minute. “Do you have any idea how dangerous and impossible that is?”

“What’s your plan, ask them nicely?”

“My plan is to find Bastila-.”

She rolled her eyes. “You and this Bassy person.”

“Bastila,” he corrected sternly.

“Whatever, what is your obsession with this Jedi?”

“She’s one of the only hopes for the war effort. You can’t tell me you don’t care that the fate of the entire Republic depends on us finding her.”

“Actually, I can.” He gaped at her again and she grinned. “Did I break your brain, flyboy?”

“Flyboy?” Carth quickly dismissed it. “Never mind. Look, we need to work together.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to get off Taris as much as you, and if we work together, we might actually get somewhere.”

Jay crossed her arms, holding his gaze. “And you’ve got a plan?” she asked eventually.

“First thing’s first is to find Bastila. We need her.”

“Fine. Shall we go ask the Sith for directions?”

“Very funny. Some of the escape pods crashed in what’s called the Undercity. We need to go take a look, see if anyone’s still down there.” He went back to the table and picked up his plans and blaster. “Hopefully we’ll find Bastila before the Sith do.”

Together they headed out of the apartment complex. Carth barely stopped himself from pulling her back inside when a Sith patrol passed by. Jay just grinned. “Hey look. Sith! Go ask for directions, flyboy.”

This felt like the start of a very long day.


End file.
